Highly ion-conductive solid polymer electrolytes based on polyethylene non-woven matrix

Highly ion-conductive solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) based on polyethylene (PE) non-woven matrix is prepared by filling poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based crosslinked electrolyte inside the pores of the non-woven matrix. The PE non-woven matrix not only shows good mechanical strength for SPE to be a free-standing film, but also has very porous structure for high ion conductivity. The ion conductivity of SPE based on PE non-woven matrix can be enhanced by adding sufficient non-volatile plasticizer such as poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether (PEGDME) into ion conduction phase without sacrificing mechanical strength. SPE with 20 wt.% crosslinking agent and 80 wt.% non-volatile plasticizer shows 3.1 × 10^-4 S cm^-1 at room temperature (20 °C), to our knowledge, which is the highest level for SPEs. It is also electrochemically stable up to 5.2 V and has high transference number about 0.52 due to the introduction of anion receptor as an additive. The interfacial resistance between Li electrode and SPE is low enough to perform charge/discharge test of unit cell consisting of LiCoO₂/SPE/Li at room temperature. The discharge capacity of the unit cell shows 87% of theoretical value with 86% Coulombic efficiency.